It takes many years to calculate land use fees
According to a representative of Anh Tuan Group Company - the investor of Lotus Residences project (HCMC), by the end of 2025, the project had legal obstacles removed, being among 9 projects of the city that were extended investment policy and notified of paying land use fees of more than 500 billion VND.
To achieve this decision, the business spent 7 years and 7 months completing legal procedures. During the time when land use fees could not be determined, hundreds of customers could not build houses or make pink books, and items such as apartments, schools, and commercial centers also had to stop being implemented, causing the project to almost "freeze" for many years.
Statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), in Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are about 100 projects where real estate and commercial housing project investors are waiting for competent State agencies to notify land use fees, including additional land use fees to be paid.
The stage of determining land use fees and land rent is currently a legal procedure that takes a lot of time for both businesses and management agencies. Currently, land valuation for real estate projects mainly applies two methods: Surplus and K coefficient, in which most projects in locations with commercial advantages use the surplus method.
However, the process of selecting appraisal units, completing appraisal certificates and passing through the provincial-level land valuation council usually takes at least 6 months, even many projects take many years to complete, greatly affecting progress and increasing investment costs.
Meanwhile, the K coefficient method is calculated by taking the land price in the land price list multiplied by the K coefficient, which is determined based on comparison with the market price. This is a simple method, which can be implemented quickly because the land price list and K coefficient are both issued and adjusted annually by the provincial People's Committee.
New mechanism for land valuation for projects
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee recently approved a new operating regulation for the specific Land Valuation Council of the city. Accordingly, the specific Ho Chi Minh City Land Valuation Council was established under Decision No. 2176/2025 to appraise land price plans, ensuring that the determination of land prices complies with legal regulations. This not only helps increase transparency but also minimizes conflicts of interest that may arise in the land valuation process.
Mr. Nguyen Toan Thang - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment (NNMT) of Ho Chi Minh City, a member of the Council - said that from the beginning of 2026, Ho Chi Minh City will apply a new annual land price list in accordance with the 2024 Land Law. The new land price list applied from January 1, 2026 will follow a different process and must be approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is also implementing, coordinating, and advising departments, branches, and levels on many key contents related to the specific land price determination work. In which, there is advising the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to issue a decision on the land price adjustment coefficient for 2026 (coefficient K), advising the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council to issue a resolution adjusting the land price list for the first time in Resolution 87/2025.
Especially specific land price dossiers expected to be submitted in 2026. There are 68 dossiers, including 8 dossiers according to the conclusions of inspections and examinations and 60 dossiers that meet the conditions. If fully reporting the dossiers being processed, it is expected that in 2026 there will be 100 projects with specific land prices determined, creating revenue for the budget of more than 100,000 billion VND.
Ho Chi Minh City sets a double-digit growth target and budget revenue of over 800,000 billion VND in 2026, aiming for nearly 1 million billion VND, of which revenue from land accounts for about 10%. Therefore, accelerating land valuation dossiers will help people and businesses complete financial obligations soon, put land into exploitation, and create momentum for economic growth.
Businesses worry about increased land use fees
Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association - said that determining land prices with a K coefficient makes the land use fee of the project to be paid very high and unreasonable, so it is necessary to build a land price adjustment coefficient applied to each area, location, and project to apply to real estate projects, commercial housing, and urban areas.
Land valuation for real estate projects, commercial housing or urban areas is different from valuing a house foundation or a small land plot, because the scale of land use is large and the land use coefficient of each project is different. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a suitable calculation method, in which projects with high land use coefficients must pay land use fees and land rents higher than projects with low coefficients" - Mr. Le Hoang Chau stated his opinion.
